The Hallowed Variants
by Leylaniez
Summary: Greaton seemed like an Incognito town. Harley Sivea didn't think that there were many shenanigans she could get up to, that was until things began to change. Like disappearance of her best friend, her mother's odd behavior and a few run -ins with some mythical creatures. OC's, happening at the same time as the events in The Mortal Instruments.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Based on the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices universe. I know it follows an original character with their own storyline/setting/characters but I would be eternally grateful to anyone who gave it a chance.**

**Chapter I**

I was walking back home after hanging out at Ebony's late into the night. I didn't need the constellations in the sky to tell me that my mom was going to have a cow over it. Sure I'd been late plenty of times before but even then it wasn't late-late. Most of the time I came back before 10, when more people populated the streets of the town I now lived in; Greaton.

I wondered what penance I would have to pay for my insolence; being grounded for a week? No electronics for a month? No, no, she'd become quite crafty of the late and would probably make me stand on a street holding up a sign that read "I am a bad kid who comes home after curfew."

Ever since the her discovery of Facebook she had borrowed punishment ideas from other sadistic parents and unleashed them on me. Like the time I got a C on a test and had to do all my homework over again for that month. Also the other time I spray painted inside the school (apparently it was a safety hazard or something) and made amends by cleaning up local parks. To say I got in trouble a lot wouldn't have been an overstatement. With a world full of rules, it was hard not to break a few of them.

"Hello there pretty girl, what are you doing out so late?" I snapped my head in the direction of the voice, which had the qualities of a British accent watered down by living life abroad. While wondering about what punishment my mom had in store for me, I had completely ignored my surroundings. Unfortunately, even with my newfound awareness, I still couldn't find where the voice was coming from. The pace of my heart quickened and my hands clammed. I mentally slapped my wrist for being afraid, I was used to creeps, "Just getting back from a gang fight that I won."

I had somehow managed to retain my sass along with a steady voice despite my growing panic. _I am used to creeps_, I told myself again. Unlike most of the residents of Greaton, I had grown up in a city full of them. And I have had countless interactions like this one growing up in my old city with my dad. I also mentally traced where I kept my pocket knife in my side bad. It was somewhere towards the bottom, and the chances of me reaching it inconspicuously were seriously low.

"It doesn't look like you did," finally a shadow from one of the street corners gave way to reveal a tall man, his hair was short enough that really didn't have a shape or texture I could desipher. He had a light complexion that made his skin glisten in the dim light in the street. My arm hairs rose up and small shudder moved through my spine. I would have pegged him as handsome if I weren't terrified out of my mind. I thought to myself how many times I had felt scared in my life. The time I was being dragged underwater by a rip current, and the other time I was in a life threatening car accident. Both would be scary but my body had never had such an extreme reaction before to a threat. I felt almost every fiber of my being raging at me to run away. A primal urge to run and never look back.

"Looks can be deceiving," I said with a surprisingly even voice that contrasted with my emotional state. I probably should have screamed at this point but I looked around and all the shops were closed. I was in the farther side of town where people didn't wander this late. I silently cursed myself for not just crashing at Ebony's. While stewing in my regret I slowly lowered my hand into my bag to find my knife; better to seem like a suspicious, knife happy teenager than some maggot food inconspicuously hidden on a joggers morning route tomorrow morning.

"That's a nice sentiment," he responded and took one step closer, as he did his lips fell away to reveal a pointy smile and my hands reflexively flew up to cover my mouth. I'd seen enough bad teen movies to know what sharp incisors meant. _Holy shit, vampire_.

"AHHhhhhhhhhhh," and all rational thoughts abandoned me and I spun back in the direction of Ebony's house and ran frantically.

"Easy does it love, that's not the way one usually begins polite conversation." Startled, I blinked up and he stood five feet in front of me blocking my pathway.

"Oh god, oh god, I don't want to die," I backed away tripping in a pot hole in the sidewalk. How cliche, how really fucking _cliche_.

"Oh, you won't die," he said walking towards me, he lowered himself so we were eye to eye and he lifted my chin, "I mean, you might. But that's not the plan. I'm just a little thirsty is all."

He tilted his head back slightly and extended his teeth, I knew that either I did something now or I was likely to end up as an empty sac of skin later. I didn't know how far I could run but I needed to do something. So with a last act of defiance I bit down hard on the hand he had held my chin with and I heard him yowl in pain. Quickly I propelled myself forward and began to sprint as far away from him as I could. Surprisingly, I wasn't tackled a few seconds after my escape as I had anticipated.

"_He's over there!_" I heard from behind me. My head whipped back instinctually and I saw the vampire standing in the tunnel with two other figures standing in the opposite end from me and he was turned towards them. His feature were painted with disgust as he eyed the strangers, his eyes met mine for a moment and his look for disgust deepened. With out glancing back, I ran all the way back to my mom's praying to Darwin that I would escape unscathed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: World belongs to Cassandra Clare.**

**Chapter II**

When I opened my lids the next morning it felt like they were being peeled away from half-dried concrete. I groggily slid out of bed half-blind. The instant I set my feet on the wooden floors, I heard heavy stomping coming upstairs. Most likely it was my mom who was going to unleash a can of (verbal) whoop-ass on me. Then again it could have also been the vampire from yesterday.

When I entered the house yesterday I had found my mom passed out on the couch, laying across from an old T.V. playing infomercials. I considered waking her up, either to tell her to go upstairs to bed or have her pack her bags so we could run away. My heart had still been beating fast from running home and I'd sat in the living room while contemplating what had just happened. I finally settled on a shaky explanation, that the joint I had smoked earlier was laced with something and I had encountered a particularly crazy mugger who had a penchant for roleplaying. After an hour of convincing myself of this explanation, I went up stairs and laid in bed. I also briefly wondered if I was being horrendously selfish by not waking up my mom and telling her to get the hell out of the house. I settled for the less drastic route of leaning a chair against the front door. If it fell, then I could be confident that we were under siege. It was only when I had my pocket knife clutched to my chest, that I was able to fall asleep comfortably.

My mom aggressively opened my bedroom door, "Harley, What the hell is wrong with you?"

Pushing through my groggy state, I composed myself and arranged my face into a passive expression. I glanced down at my hand and saw that I was still clutching my pocket knife and hastily stowed it under my blanket, "what do you mean?"

"Oh stop with the innocent act, I know you came in late yesterday... _past curfew_," she crossed her arms over her chest. Even in duck patterned morning robe, my mom had the ability to intimidate and interrogate.

"I came in at 10:45," It was a gamble, because she could have been awake at that time and known I wasn't home, but if she was asleep I would still be technically breaking curfew, but only by 45 minutes instead of three hours.

She surveyed me to see if I would crumble under her gaze. Luckily for me, one of the few talents I possessed was lying. She finally sighed and said, "just because your father let you run rampant doesn't mean I will too, your curfew _was_ at ten."

"_Was_?" I asked picking up on the one word that was most troubling in that sentence.

"Yes _was_, now it's at nine, on weekends too,"

"No fair! It used to be eleven till you dropped it down to ten last week!" I retorted angrily.

"And it will keep dropping down every time you're late," with that she stalked out of the room slamming the door behind her, I got out of bed angrily and defiantly kicked my blanket on the ground. _That really showed her Harley_, I thought sarcastically.

"Oh and I don't know what you were doing with that chair against the door last but I nearly tripped over it!" she yelled through the door. Seething, I went into the bathroom attached to my room to take a shower. It was a small bathroom that match the equally small bedroom I stayed in. I liked my room at my mom's well enough, but it still had the stiff feel of formality, like It wasn't inhabited. She never let me decorate it until I moved here permanently after my 18th birthday. I tried to cover the walls with band posters and pictures with my friends in my old city but it still felt… stale.

I went to my mirror to do some damage control first. After coming home last night I hadn't bothered taking a shower or brushing my teeth. The first thing most people, and at the moment me, noticed when they say me was my bright purple hair. I had dyed it since I was in middle school but usually to was usually to other natural colors. I thought it added a certain popping affect since both my hair (naturally) and eyes were a dull brown. At the moment it resembled a red cabbage salad, and needed desperate detangling.

I showered throughly and brushed my teeth, twice for good measure. Of course my under eye circles were disastrous, so I dealt with them first with the cakiest layer of concealer that would have put some drag queens to shame. I evened that out the rest of my face with some foundation. I then moved on to the fun stuff.

Ebony always said that I treated everyday like prom, since I put on a full face even if I was just going out for coffee. Ebony wore make up too, but she was a more of an all or nothing type of person. She was either wearing a full face like me, or was wearing nothing but her acne cream and a nose strip. Not that it mattered if she didn't wear make up since she was gorgeous.

I always wore a full face. It wasn't that I was super self conscious, I mean I was self conscious, but I didn't think it had anything to do with my makeup. It was more the fact that I had developed a certain image and the make up I wore was a big part of it. I always wore a cat eye and bronzer, even though my skin was perpetually tan due to my Puerto Rican heritage. Lastly I topped it off with some understated lip stick. You're probably thinking: "_girl_, you already look like a beauty school reject's final project, I think you could wear a red." Red was a nice color but it practically yelled _bright and attention seeking_, and my hair was already doing a fine job of that.

I glanced at the clock sitting next to me and sighed. I had fifteen minutes till school started. My hair was still damp and I prayed that when it dried it would remain smooth. Since there was no way i could dry it in time I ran to my closet and put on a pair of jeans with a plain dark brown v-neck. Even though it probably would make me even more late, I went through my jewelry box and wore my usual bracelets; a leather bracelet from my trip to Hawaii, a small silver chain from my dad, and a charm bracelet with one small bell from Ebony. I had liked it when I saw it in her jewelry box, and she gave it to me saying that she never wore it. I new that it was expensive so I told her I couldn't take it and she made me a deal that I could take it for safe keeping since she would have lost it anyways.

I was fastening on the last one while I ran out the door with ten minutes to go and I wore my tennis shoes since it seemed likely that I would need to sprint to first period. I was barely out the door when I heard some one blast their car horn.

"Hola Chika, hop in," I spun to face the street and saw Ebony sitting in her convertible hatchback, which should have been an oxymoron except for the fact that it exsisted.

"Yes please," I climbed into the passenger seat and faced her. She was sans makeup today and her pale blonde hair was pulled into a pony tail and she was wearing what could only be described as, the "I reeeeally don't care" sweat pants and shirt combo.

"I was banking on you being late today, so I thought I'd swing by," she said while waving at my mom who was eyeing us through the curtains, "you're welcome."

"You know she still thinks that you are a senior who goes to my school."

"Really? Doesn't the boob job make her even a little bit suspicious?" she asked spinning the car in the direction of Greaton High School.

"I haven't asked her about her opinion on your boobs but I'm sure she think you are either extremely well endowed or got them from your rich family for your sweet sixteen."

She laughed, "she thinks my rich family got me a boob job for my sweet sixteen but not a mustang?"

"It was only a guess, I was also speaking in the hypotheticals since I have no idea why she believed me when I said you were in my class."

"You told her I was in one of your classes?" she asked sounding even more amused.

"Well I said that we met during 5th period. What I didn't tell her was that I ditched 5th period to go to the record store downtown," I responded grinning.

"Ah yes, the record store. If you didn't have such excellent taste in music I don't think I would be friends with you, did she freak out again when you came in late?" she asked. I hesitated before responding, I had already decided that my vampire experience was me tripping out or being benevolently pranked. I decided that at least it would make a good story.

"Erm, yeah of course she freaked out. She freaks out on me for being on time too because she is convinced that I am conspiring against her," I fell back into her chair, luxuriating in the seat's warmth before I had to go to school, "you'll never believe what happened on my way home though."

Her thin eyebrows knit together in worry, "Did something bad happen? I knew you were being stubborn when you refused a ride, did someone attack you?"

"Calm down there amigo, you are beginning to sound like my mom. No it was nothing like that. I just think I may have hit the wrong end of the wacky weed."

"Oh god," she began to laugh, "I'm a horrible person, letting my little high school friend loose in the middle of the night when she was having a bad trip."

I laughed along with her because it was partially true, "you were awful, I thought I was being attacked by a vampire and I sprinted home and-"

Halfway through my sentence she halted the car sending us both jumping in the air.

"Did we hit something?" I asked her confused.

"Wait, repeat what you said," the car was still stalling in the middle of the road and I turned back to see if any cars were behind us. I was officially late to school so our side of the road was bare except for one hectic biker who seemed to be pedaling with all his might.

"I. Thought. A. Vampire. Attacked. Me. But. I. Was. Actually. Tripping. Balls." I said, not meaning to sound snappy but it came out that way, not that Ebony seemed to notice. She was still sitting in the drivers seat staring at me intently through her sun glasses.

"Earth to Ebony," I said snapping my fingers in front of her face. That seemed to rouse her, "Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah, I think that's enough herbal vices for a while. Well at least till I can buy something that isn't laced with shit," she began driving again but was silent for the rest of the ride.

"Well, thanks for the ride," I said waving to her from the sidewalk in front of the brick prison that masqueraded as a learning institution, specifically Greaton High School. She drove off waving and smiling at me absently, leaving me to think that something was off.

Most of my school day passed without much commotion. It was nearing the end of the year and I was a senior so the work load was light. I came in during the beginning of the year so I hadn't made too many meaningful friendships, just some acquaintances that passed the time. By the time the end of the day arrived I made my way out of the school's front doors and was walking home.

"Harley, over here," once again I was faced with Ebony driving to match my pace. The stark difference from our morning encounter was that her hair and makeup were done up and dressed professionally. Much more professionally than usual in fact. I opened up the passenger door and slid in gratefully.

"Two rides in one day, you're spoiling me," she smiled at me but once again seemed distracted.

"okay, is something up? You're starting to scare me," I asked her.

"I just think we should talk, Lakeside or Wilde's?" She asked, referring to our preferred eateries.

"Um, Wilde's." We drove again for a while and my heart rate began to speed up. Ebony was one of the most carefree people I knew and seeing her worried, worried me. I knew that this probably had something to do with last night. I wondered if she was tired of babysitting me all the time. Maybe I had become too dependent on her since moving here and was suffocating her. She was probably aware that she was my only friend who I talked to face to face. All my old friends back at home were prepping for prom and graduation but still found time to Skype and called me every week. It still it wasn't the same as seeing them face to face and as much as I hated to admit it, we were growing apart. The silence in the car was starting to become uncomfortable but I was too self conscious to break it.

When we finally pulled in front of Wilde's, my alarm had evolved into dread. We both opened our doors and walked into Wilde's silently. I usually preferred Wilde's to any other restaurant because it was a quieter atmosphere to most of the other places in town that also had good tea and food. It wasn't too small of a building and had three floors. The main floor mostly consisted of the coffee shop with a few book shelves. The top story was almost all books shelves with a small alcove for sitting and eating. The bottom floor had older books and with some weird art that the manager, Sheldon, liked to hang up. When we settled ourselves into the top floor I didn't take comfort in the soft couches and old book smell like I usually did. I sat stiffly in a robust red armchair as Ebony sat across from me sitting on a lounge chair. We sat down for a while and I was the first to break the silence.

"You look awfully fancy for three in the afternoon," I said, settling for the less intimidating subject I could broach.

"Yeah I had to go meet a few people this afternoon and discuss some matters," she replied. I didn't know what to make of this other Ebony, I had become so used to the translucent and free loving girl from the last seven months that I couldn't even keep up a good conversation.

"Business stuff?" I asked. Ebony had a blog that she ran that was part of a larger website that focused on girly stuff. I read it on occasion even though reading about "15 ways to please your man" was hardly a subject matter that interested me. She barely ever met with her boss face to face since she lived in Chicago, so I highly doubted it actually had to do with her job.

"Yeah, business stuff."

"Hm."

"Oh god Harley I have no idea how to tell you what I need to tell you…" she fidgeted in her seat looking at anywhere but me, "but I'm moving away."

My heart dropped to my stomach, "but why? I thought you could work anywhere since your job was online."

"It's not for my job, i'm moving away to another town. Greaton is becoming too… hectic for me." I stared at her in disbelief. _Greaton_, too _hectic_? Greaton had to be one of the calmest bum fuck towns in the north side of California. The population barely teetered on 40,000 and it was becoming too hectic for her?

"You're fucking me right?" I asked, hoping that she was. Her jaw was set and she turned her gaze to me face.

"No, I'm moving to live with my Grandmother in Colorado, she's ill and I don't want her to be alone. You understand that right?" she finally looked at me, her face held fragments of desperation. As if she hoped that I did understand. I didn't understand. Not at all. She never talked about her family and I didn't even know she still had a Grandmother. Weren't they supposed to die before you turned eighteen or something?

"Okay, whatever. I'll call you every once in a while. Do you need help packing?" I asked while my insides were crumbling, but I reminded myself that I had two months till school was over and then I would beg my dad to let me live with him for the summer before I attended community college.

"No it's fine I'm already packed. I'm leaving tonight." my eyes widened.

"_Tonight?_ what they hell! Why are you acting like this, all secretive and stuff?" I fumed.

"Look, I'm sorry that this is so short notice, but I'm in a time crunch."

"I'll see you off then, I don't care if I break curfew again," it wouldn't matter if my curfew was pushed even earlier, it's not like I would have anywhere to go after tomorrow.

"Actually I was hoping that this could be our goodbye," she said gesturing between us. There was a long pause.

"Goodbye then," I responded numbly, I couldn't believe it. She smiled back at me and glanced at her phone, which was buzzing in her bag.

"Ugh," she looked frustrated, "I was hoping I had more time, but I need to go."

"Really?" my mouth hung open, "Call me when you get to Colorado."

"Harley, I really need to leave. I'm so sorry I leaving you hanging like this. Stay safe!" She kissed me on the cheeks leaving them wet. At first I thought I was victim to the sloppiest kisses ever until she pulled away and I saw that her lashes were wet, "Please, stay safe and do go out late any more."

She squeezed my hands before turning away. As far as my mind was concerned, I was glued to my seat and immoble. I watched as she ran off leaving me and my confusion in her wake.

"Hey, is there anything I can get you?" a waiter had finally made his way to the table and I mutter back, "no thanks."

I left the bewildered waiter behind me and I threw open the cafe's door. Ebony left me about three miles away from my house. It wasn't a huge deal and I was used to her being somewhat inconsiderate, but not THIS inconsiderate. Her grandmother must have been pretty sick if she was in such a hurry to leave. Maybe I was being insensitive but Ebony hardly ever talked about her family, let alone a frail and sickly grandmother. I began to walk back to my house and seemed to get there in no time. I opened the front door and was greeted by a suspicious glare from my mom who was sitting on the couch reading over some official looking papers.

"You're home awfully early, it's six." she said.

"Yeah, it was almost curfew so I decided to come back," I responded dryly.

"Har har, and don't think that this will give you extra points for future days, no carry over hours!" She said sternly.

"Wasn't planning on it," I mumbled while dragging my feet up stairs, "I'm going to do home work or some other soul draining activity."

I heard a mutter that distinctly sounded like, _drama queen_ as I shut the door to my bedroom. I paced around for a while not sure what to do. I thought of calling a friend but soon realized that the only person who I could talk to about this was the one who who was leaving. I thought about calling my dad but I knew that he was always busy with work and I didn't want to bother him. I finally settle on actually doing my homework, and changed into sweats. I pulled off my bracelets since there were only so many hours I could wear them without being irritated. I was pulling off my charm bracelet when a realization hit me, I hadn't given her extremely expensive looking bracelet back.

I ran to my phone and scrolled through my contacts to her number. I hit call and waited for her to pick up. She didn't, so shoved my feet into my chucks and flew down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" My mom hollered after me.

"LATE AFTERNOON JOG!" I said back, if I was lucky I would catch her before she drove off.

Amazingly I made it to her house in half the time that it usually took me, except for that one time I thought I was being chased by a vampire. Her house looked the same as usual. It was one of the many brick and wooden townhouses that littered Greaton. In front of it was parked her old hatchback convertible. Relieved I began to walk into her house and saw that the door was slightly askew. I hesitantly opened the door, I never really knocked and it was always open but usually I could hear loud club music playing from inside her house. I walked inside, everything still looked the same boho chic style and nothing had been moved. I stopped walking when I realized that there was a voice speaking, it wasn't Ebony's voice, or even a women's voice. It was a man's voice and he sounded like he was farther back in the house in the one bedroom down stairs.

"Ebony, pick up. It's not as urgent as I had thought. Only two members of the Clave are temporarily residing in Greaton. None of the fair folk are here. If you move you have a greater likelihood of being found. Call me back," the man seemed to have hung up and he sighed. I then heard him begin to walk towards me and I dove behind the bar, hoping that he didn't take a detour into the kitchen. The foot steps got closer until they eventually lead away and I poked my head from behind the bar to see a tall man walking out the front door, the sun was setting and it was hard to decipher much else in her already dimly lit townhouse.

I climbed out from my hiding spot and my head was swimming with confusion. I was only completely sure of three things; first off, Ebony was definitely not in Greaton anymore. Secondly; she positively didn't leave because of her grandmother's illness, more likely some shady business. Lastly; I would find out who that man was, why she left and what the Fair Folk and Clave were.

I was about to leave her house but I stopped, I pulled off my bracelet and left it in her coffee table. If she did come back to her house, at least she'd know that I'd been here to say goodbye.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Based off of the Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare.**

**Chapter 3**

The Darkness had spread into night time and I got home as soon as the sun fell away into the horizon. I opened the front door and lumbered onto one of the sofas.

"Why did you go running off like that?" My mom said as she left the adjoining kitchen, "I thought something was wrong!"

"Nothing was wrong, I told you I just jogging," I didn't want to be bothered anymore since I had so much to puzzle through.

"Dinner will be ready in twenty," she said as I climbed up stairs into my room. I shut the door behind me and ran to my laptop and opened it up. it wasn't new or anything so it took a minute to boot up, and I popped up a search engine.

"Clave," I whispered aloud as I typed in the exact words, I scrolled and only found websites links and pictures for some sort of wooden instrument. I spent a few more minutes scrolling but I didn't find anything that seemed like it could have been a reason for Ebony leaving town, like a notorious mafia or gang. Next I wrote fae court.

This search seemed to be a lot more lucrative, and also more confusing. I clicked on one of the first links, which lead to wikipedia, and read out loud one of the lines, "…also known as the Seelie Court… fairies!?"

Okay that didn't seem anymore likely, but then the memory of my counterfeit interaction with a vampire. Was it possible that- no, no. Of course it wasn't possible. If there was even the smallest chance that vampires and fairies existed humanity would have found them by now. After all, the internet existed and hidden cameras were everywhere. Most likely it was some sort of gang, on the page it said that it was a part of Irish and Scottish folklore. Maybe it was a Scottish or Irish gang that was prideful of their culture's mythology. I read through a few more articles, and typed in _Gangs and Seelie court _but I couldn't find anything that traced back to Greaton, let alone California.

"Harley! Downstairs!" My mom yelled. I got up and shut the lid of my laptop.

"Coming!" I trotted down the stairs and spun into the kitchen, sitting in the dining area in our kitchen. I set down our plates, utensils and food.

"How was your day?" My mom asked, I hadn't had a proper family dinner with her for a while since I was usually with Ebony and she was usually at work.

"Same old, same old," I muttered while shoveling pasta into my mouth.

"Really? I noticed that you seemed a bit down earlier," I looked at my mom and thought about telling her the truth. I never really discussed personal issues with her and we our conversations were usually brief unless they involved shouting or sarcasm. Maybe it was because I was feeling sentimental, or maybe I did need to talk to someone, so I cracked.

"Ebony is moving away," I said, and cleared my throat to get rid of the lump those words had formed. That seemed to get a reaction from her, she put down her fork and looked at me.

"You're kidding me? Why is she moving?" She inquired, "I thought you two were joined at the hip."

"She's moving to be with her grandma, in Colorado I think," I responded while avoiding her gaze, "actually, she already moved."

That seemed to get her full attention, "she moved away? Already? That, quickly? Something must have been very wrong then."

I was taken back by her intent gaze and the concern in her voice, "yeah just today, we said goodbye over coffee."

Even though it wasn't entirely true, she said goodbye over coffee and I was still left shell-shocked while leading my own amateur investigation.

"That's interesting, very interesting," she muttered to herself, "did you find out earlier?"

"No, she just told me today," I fumed, realizing how angry I actually was at Ebony.

"Wow, well I'm sure you'll still talk like you did with your old friends," she reassured me. I hadn't told her that the contact that I held with my old friends was slowly dwindling. I was about to say, _yeah maybe not_, but she was already of her chair, plastic wrapping her barely-touched pasta.

"I need to go back to the office for a little bit," she said while she grabbing a coat hanging from one of the pegs in the living room, "go to sleep early! You barely got any sleep last night."

With two loud clicks, the front door opened and closed leaving me inside to fester in my own anger and confusion.

The next day I woke up in relief, it was saturday and I had no school. I went downstairs and sure enough my mom wasn't there, or in her room. So I decided to do some good old fashion snooping.

I made a mental list of all the places Ebony would have left a trail or at least some unintenitonal answers. The first place I checked was at the coffee shop, Wilde's, which we frequented. I talked to the owner whom we were friendly with.

"Ebony moved away? I wasn't aware, do tell her I give my best," Greg Maroon said, he was the owner of Wilde's and always gave off the vibe of a well meaning professor. He was closer to Ebony than he was with me, but apparently not close enough to know that she was moving away. Next I went to the only concert venue in town, The Vibe, and I talked to some of the people who worked the bar, whom I had seen Ebony talk to before. Merriam, who I'd seen at Ebony's house every once in while, gave a similar response.

"I can't say that I knew, it must have been pretty urgent if she had to leave with such short notice," Merriam said while chewing on her bottom lip, "are you sure she said that she was_ moving_, maybe she'll just be gone for a while."

"No, I'm positive she said that she was moving," I responded, "Merriam, do you know if there is any reason why she'd need to move, like was she in some kind of trouble?"

Merriam absently moved her hands through her waist length brown hair, "no, she was really thrifty and I don't think she was in any debt either. I can't see her getting into that kind of thing."

I furrowed my brows, "have you heard of the Clave or the Seelie Court?"

I pulled out a couple names from the back of my head trying to see if that sparked any recognition.

"No, I really don't think she got tangled up in any trouble. Have you tried calling her?" I had tried calling her, twice, but each time I got her answering machine.

"Yeah, I'll try that. Thanks for your time!" I waved at her while walking out the door, I didn't think I would get any useful information out of her.

"Anytime, hey and feel free to stop by for a concert for free. Ebony bought two tickets for one coming up next week but seeing as she moved away, you can take them."

"I'll keep that in mind," I said, even though I had no intention of attending a concert alone.

My last stop was at record store, where me and Ebony had met.

I had went back to her house and had found almost all her things missing, along with my bracelet. The only items that remained in her house seemed to be the large furniture like couches, a t.v., and a mattress bed. I couldn't do a thorough investigation since her door was locked (for once) and I had to commence my snooping exclusively by peering through windows. I also had visited her nextdoor neighbors and one other coffee shop but no one knew anything. An idea had occurred to me to check her blog which she posted on for work but her column hadn't been updated for nearly a week.

The record store had one of those annoying doormats which tweeted when you stepped on it. It was set up as I had remembered it. I didn't really go in here much since the internet provided most the music I needed. I didn't even think Ebony went in here much. I was about to walk out until a voice said.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" I turned to the register which was off in a dark corner. Behind it was a tall man, he looked a little older than me. He was cute in a off the beaten track sort of way. He was skinny and had a head of wavy brown hair. I stayed rooted to my spot not because of my animal instincts telling me that this was a viable mate, no, it was because he seemed distinctly familiar. I had seen Ebony talking to him before. He had been at a concert before and had approached her. He whispered something into her ear and I remember Ebony saying that we should leave early to hit another party that was happening at someones house. When I asked about him she had just said that he was a random guy. He also fit the height and build of the guy I had seen leaving Ebony's house.

"Yes actually, I was here looking for some music," I said while walking toward the register, "some stuff for me and my friend."

"What were you looking for exactly?" He asked me, I thought of the first band and album that came into my head.

"Nirvana's Bleach, Please," I said, I followed him as he moved from behind the counter to one of the C.D. racks.

"C.D.'s right?" He asked me nonchalantly. I nodded. His height was definitely right. He also walked in the same way that the other guy did.

"I actually wanted to get something for my friend as a going away present," I said casually, "you know Ebony right?"

The guy's back stiffened but he continued to rifle through the C.D.'s.

"Yeah I know her," he said, "are you here because she told you to be here?"

"Yes, I'm her really good friend and I wanted to get her a gift before she left," I said while sweating a little. I should have come in with a more solid story, I was beginning to see holes in mine left and right. He spun around with the black and white C.D. case in his hands.

"Here you go, I have that _gift_, that Ebony wanted delivered to you I think. _Right_?"

"Right," I said back even though I had no idea what he was talking about. He went behind the counter and pulled out a manila envelope. I glanced up at his name tag which had "Jefferson" written on it in sharpie.

"This should be it and make sure you open it soon. And $12.99, for the C.D." I handed him a twenty and he gave my change along with the envelope.

"Bye," he said and I waved back at him.

I ran with the envelope in my hand and kept running until I reached the local park about five blocks away. The park was empty except for a few teenagers sitting in the middle of one of the basketball courts. I moved to one of the benches that were partially covered by greenery and sat down to open the envelope. I pulled out the one sheet of paper that was folded inside it. I thought that was it until I felt something else at the bottom of the envelope. I reached in and felt a small pouch. I pulled it out and saw that it was a dark blue color, I opened it carefully and found one tiny gem in it. I gasped and turned my attention to the paper held in my other hand.

The paper was dense and had an odd texture, almost feathery. The text was hand written in purple ink that shimmered oddly in the late afternoon sun. I then mumbled out loud what was written on the paper.

"The following names need to have their memories erased in regard to any contact that they have had with downworlders…"

That by itself was confusing, downworlders? Memories erased? I had no idea what it meant and what Ebony had to do with it but it seemed the more the mystery I unraveled the more there was to discover.

"Topeka Mumford," that was one of her neighbors.

"Sharon and Miles Turner," I was pretty sure that they were her other next door neighbors.

"Jefferson Barker," I paused as I read that name, Jefferson was the cashiers name.

"Arnold Coldwater," I had no idea who he was.

"Merriam Rodes," I almost paused in shock until my eyes slid to the last name.

"Harley Sivea,"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: World belongs to Cassandra Clare.**

**Chapter IV**

I walked into my house and went up stairs into my bedroom, I rubbed my eyes and thought of my next course of action. I wondered who I could ask for help and if I would ever find out why Ebony left. I had a strange yearning to talk to my mom, even if I couldn't give her details at least I could unload some of this information on someone. When I made my way downstairs, I saw that my mom was cleaning. Odd since that was normally my job but I sensed that she was probably begin nice to me since Ebony left. She picked up a pieces of paper on one of the selves and was about to throw it in the bin next to her when she froze looking at it.

"Hey mom, I was wondering if we could talk?" I got no response. Her gaze was fixed on the paper and when I glanced down I saw that there was a note written in calligraphy.

"Oh god, it was only a matter of time. I knew it, I knew it…" she mumbled to herself.

I wrestled the note out of my moms hand and smoothed it out with my palm.

_I Found you…_ _The Clave is not tolerated here, Nephilim beware. You and you're mother are not safe._

A few days ago I would have thought that this was a sick joke and laughed it off. But so many things were different at this moment from that carefree parallel universe. First off my mom had lost all the color in her face, making her hair and grey eyes stand out from the rest of her face. Too many strange things had happened in the last week for anything to be considered a coincidence anymore. So I did the only reasonable thing that a emotional teenager with family issues would do, I stood up and shook my mom out of her shock and yelled at her.

"Do you know what's going on?"

"Harley, give me minute," she muttered getting loose from my grip. She pinched the bridge of her nose and was breathing deeply.

"No! Not until you tell me why the hell weird stuff keeps happening, and why you didn't tell me about this weird stuff before!" I kept yelling.

"Harley, if you give me minute to get something upstairs I will explain everything, ok?" she said calmly. This was probably her most frustrating angle of attack in a argument, when I yelled she'd be as calm as a therapist on Vicodin. I was about to yell at her some more but thought better of it, I probably would waste more time before having her answer some of my questions. She walked up stairs and I went to go sit at the dining room table. I thought about eating a bagel but my mom might think that I wasn't angry anymore. A few minutes later I heard her soft footsteps climbing back down the stairs and she walked into the kitchen with a dusty box in her hands. She put the box on the table and sat down.

"You know that I was your age when I had you," she said just as calmly as before, "you stayed with your father and rarely saw me when you were a child because you were lead to believe that I didn't want a child,"

I looked at her and pretended that everything that she said didn't dig into my heart like a rusty screw.

"You thought that I didn't want to talk to you because I never saw you, I rarely called, and maybe sent post cards through our family friend Peggy," her voice was strained and I could see a tear leaking from the side of her eye, "I knew that you resented me because you thought I didn't care."

I fidgeted in my chair, and looked away from her.

"When I was eighteen I was in a much different situation then what you are in now, in fact, it was completely different," she reached into the box and pulled out a picture and held it out to me, it was a picture of my mother in her younger years. I never saw pictures of her when she was younger because frankly I rarely saw her at all. She had the same completion, light skin with a pair of blue grey eyes, her hair was the same golden brown color. I felt disappointed, I looked nothing like her. She was definitely beautiful and graceful while I was stout with a wide bottom. She was dressed in all black and held a large weapon that looked like a machete in her hand with a glowing knife in the other. Next to her stood a women who looked equally graceful, she was shorter than my mother and had sleek brown hair, and if I were to guess her heritage it would have been asian. She was holding a large crossbow in her hands but in contrast to my mother, she was wearing short sleeves with black tattoos covering them.

"You see those tattoos she has? They were called marks. I have them as well but I had them hidden away," she scooted back and pulled up her shirt to her stomach to show an arrangement of strange scars, I focused on them more and saw that they looked like the marks her friend had. She pulled her shirt back down to cover her stomach.

"Those marks, they look like my birthmark," I said pulling up my sleeve to uncover my lower arm part of my arm. I always covered with a jacket because a kid in my middle school once asked it I cut myself and it had made me self conscious. On days that I didn't wear long sleeves I had hidden it with make up. She eyed the birthmark and then looked up at me again.

"That's not a birthmark, it's a mark too," I let her words sink in.

"So you gave your child a super-sweet scar that looks just like yours, wow your parenting just keeps getting better and better," I remarked snidely, my mom looked like someone had punched her in the stomach.

"It's not a scar, it's a mark," she said, "they are tattoos that carry heavenly qualities."

My mother had officially gone full, bat-shit, insane.

"You draw marks with this device, a stele," she reached into the box and pulled out something that looked like an intricate metal stick with a glass exacto knife sticking out from one end.

"So you cut me with a wonky metal wand? Wonderful," I was beginning to understand why my father had told to me it was better if I was away from my mom. For the few months she had me as a baby, she had practiced chiseling.

"This is going to be difficult if I don't show you," she held the stele and muttered "Ilahi" and the stick started to glow, my eyes widened. It didn't stop there. She pressed the stele against her skin and began to draw onto her arm, with each stroke leaving a glowing and puckered curved line until a curly shape that looked like two adjoined threes. Her face was red and her expression looked pained until she lifted the pointy glowing stele and put it on the table.

"What. The. Fuck," I blurted out, staring at the glowing symbol on her arm.

"Watch your language! You aren't an inarticulate simpleton!" she reprimanded.

"Are you kidding me? You're scolding me when you just drew on a magical freaking tattoo on your arm?" I asked astonished.

"Harley, I'm not exactly human. I am part of the Nephilim race," she waited for me to respond, "Harley when I was pregnant with you, it was a bad time to be what I was; a Nephilim. I had two options; fight and protect the human race or be ostracized. I fought as a Nephilim, or as we called ourselves, Shadowhunters. Shadowhunters are a secret group of Nephilim who hunt for rogue downworlders, werewolves, fairies, vampires, and warlocks. However, our main goal was to hunt for Demons."

I stared at her with my mouth agape, she looked at me concerned.

"Maybe I'm dumping too much om you at once. Are you okay?" I nodded soundlessly, "good, I knew you could handle it. I was eighteen when a battle broke out at a meeting called the Accords, which was a peace meeting between the Shadowhunters and other "magical creatures". I had never been overzealous about the idea of killing things but I did my duty and what was expected of me. That day, at what was supposed to be a peaceful gathering, turned into a a bloodbath."

Her eyes darkened and for a moment I imaged myself in that situation, in a battle between half angels, werewolves, vampire, witches, and fairies, I shuddered.

"At the time I had thought about quitting because I had met your father, who lived near one of the Shadowhunter's headquarters that I worked at. We fell in love quickly and I told him my secret. After the accords, I had lost almost my entire family and most of my friends, I no longer could stand the idea of living life as a Shadowhunter when everyone I loved was always in danger. So I left. Me and your father moved in together and got married. We lived happily but after a couple months something changed. I was pregnant…"

I felt a dull thud in my stomach, _everything was fine till I came along_, I thought bitterly to myself.

"Why was it such a bad thing that I existed?" I asked numbly.

"No! I was so happy to have you! But I was so stupid, with Shadowhunters, even if you leave and don't want anything to do with them, the same can't be said for your children. I had forgotten that for a moment."

"Why would they care if I existed? Why would they want to kill me?" I asked outraged, anger boiling in my blood at the thought of the Shadowhunters ruining whatever happiness I had experienced with my family before everything fell apart.

My mother didn't look outraged, in fact, her mouth had quirked into a smile, "they didn't want to kill you, no they wanted to take you from us for themselves."

"What do they need me for?" I asked stupidly.

"Because the blood of the Nephilim is dominant, they would have wanted to make you a Shadowhunter," seconds ticked by after that statement.

"They wanted me… to be a Shadowhunter?" She nodded.

"I am part angel?" I asked dumbfounded.

"Allegedly, but for all intents and purposes yes."

I got out of my chair and stood up while letting the new information sink in.

"YES!" I fist pumped into the air, "OH MY GOD YES! I AM A MAGICAL MUTHA-FUCKING SHADOWHUNTER!"

"Language!" She warned me, but I completely ignored her.

"I AM SPECIAL! HOW GODDAMN AWESOME! Do I have super powers?" I asked excitedly.

"No, like I said, you can get marks," she said looking at me amused, but a little sad, "you aren't trained so you can't really fight or anything else that a Shadowhunter would normally do."

"Who cares? I'm part angel!" I sang.

"Are you done? Or do you want to gloat some more about a life that kills many people's families?" After that remark I quieted and I sat back down in my chair.

"Sorry," I apologized.

"It's fine, it's fun for a while till you realize how much you can loose. And fighting isn't a life for everyone. For Shadowhunters that is one of the only things you can do and you can bet your biscuit that if you don't fight the rest of your family and friends will. So you see all those years I left you alone wasn't because I didn't care about you, I did, but I couldn't let the them know you existed so I moved far away. I knew that they checked on me to make sure I never had any children and I had Peggy write her name in as your mother on your birth certificate."

I never knew that before. Peggy was my dad and mom's closest friend. She was always at my house back in San Diego and she was one of the only people who contacted me everyday, usually by email. I felt a guilty knot in my stomach begin to form as I realized that I hadn't responded to her since all the crazy had entered my life. Peggy had been the only one who shared small stories about my mom when my dad wouldn't. She told me how they couldn't go to a hospital in time so my mom and had to give birth to me in a bathtub. But now it seemed like it was probably out of necessity, so that they could place her name on my birth certificate.

"When you turned eighteen, a person who informs me about the Shadowhunters said that the they stopped looking for me since more pressing matters had risen, so I decided to be reckless and send for you, at least till you went to college."

"Do you still love dad?" I asked her, I had asked my father this question several times, and I thought of all the questions I still needed to ask her but then the front door bell rang.

"Who is that?" I asked her suspiciously, I wondered why we were still in the house even though a threatening message had been left in it. Shouldn't we be running?

"I'll get it, Harvey I just wanted you to know everything important, now go upstairs and pack necessities. That means no make up, hair dye or music okay?"

"Wait, why? who's here?" She looked at me sadly when I asked.

"Just please do this quickly for me okay, were going to go somewhere safe for a while and these people will help us."

I ran upstairs into my room and before I heard the door open and several heavy footsteps walk into my house. I closed the door behind me and ran and grabbed my largest duffle bag and the first things I put in it were my laptop and the manilla envelope with the Ebony's list. I threw in a handful of underwear and another handful of socks which I'm sure were all mismatched. I grabbed some of the sturdiest shirts I owned and two sweaters, one for the day time and one for the night. The shoes I was wearing were good enough, my chucks, so I ran into my bathroom and grabbed my face wash, toothbrush and toothpaste. I reached into the bottom of my backpack and grabbed for my cell phone. When I thought I found it and pulled it out and saw that it was my pocketknife. _It couldn't hurt_, I thought to myself, so I placed it in the duffle bag and put my wallet and cellphone in it as well. I was about to run out of the room when when a small photo caught my eye, it was faced down on my bedside table but I grabbed it and threw it in by bag and ran down stairs.

"Where is she-"

"I'm here! Let's go!" I yelled once I reached the living room. Three pairs of eyes swiveled to look at me. The first was my mom's who looked relieved. Next to her stood a women who looked to be in her early twenties. She had choppy, reddish brown hair that was cut right above her shoulders. She was dressed in heavy cargo pants, a hunting coat along with a pair of hiking boots. Her severe hazel eyes were trained on me as if she were assessing a particularly expensive purchase. Next to her stood a man a couple inches taller then her. He had extremely short, rust colored, hair and an impressive five o-clock shadow. While the women next to him was staring at me intensely with her arms crossed and while sporting an assertive posture, the man looked relaxed, leaning lightly on one of the walls. He was looking at me too, but with more curiosity in his eyes then authority.

"So, this is your daughter?" The women said as she walked up to me with her arms crossed, "Is she part warlock or did she dye her hair?"

I looked at my mom to see if she was serious.

"She's not part warlock, she just to likes coloring her hair. And you as well as I know that Nephilim can't have warlock children," my mom said regarding the younger women warily.

"It has happened before, so I thought it was better to check. It is all a part of protocol," once she was a couple feet away from me she turned back to my mother, "so you said she wants to join the Clave. Is this true?"

I was completely thrown off and I looked at my mom questioningly, she nodded her head. The man next to her observed our interaction with vague interest, "Yes, I would like to join the Clave?"

I ended with a question because right as I said the word, I realized that it was one of the causes of Ebony fleeing. The note had also mentioned the Clave. With a start I realized that the Clave and Shadowhunters were the same thing.

"You know that we only want the most serious Shadowhunters, we don't want you to leave after a year once you are bored. So tell me young Nephilim, will you be bored in a year?" She watched my face, obviously detecting to see if I was lying. I could always tell when someone was bad at catching lies if they looked like they were actively working at finding them.

"I plan can become a Shadowhunter for a year," I said looking her straight in the eye while giving her a sweet smile, "But I can't do more than a year and two months."

The man in the corner snorted and the women looked at me disgusted, "the last thing we need for our next generation is another cocky and self impressed, Shadowhunter who will get killed in the first hint of a real battle."

I really tried to remain professional but she reminded me so much of the teachers and authority figures that I actively provoked that I had to say, "I'm not cocky and self impressed, more self aware really."

"I can see that you won't take this seriously so I'm going to have to leave," the women signaled at the man, and I saw my mom open her mouth to object.

"Oh come on June! She's not that bad, she looks like she could pack a punch and do some damage," the man said talking to the women, his next question was directed at me, "you exercise right?"

"I do a lot of… jogging," I could practically hear my mom's internal groan.

"See June? Athletic, she's a hell of a lot better than the lazy couch potatoes that the Clave has been popping out lately. Besides, were in no position to turn down willing soldiers with our dwindling numbers," June seemed to consider it for a moment but her jaw was still clamped.

"Porsha, could you give my brother and I a minute to talk please?" She asked my mom, who nodded in response. I walked into the other side of the room when June pulled her brother to the kitchen to talk. Now that I thought about it, I could see how they were related. They had the same strong jaw and slight cleft in their chin, and even under their thick outdoorsy clothes I could see that they were extremely muscular. From their whispered argument I heard snippets like "Undermining my authority," from June and "I was just stating important information," from her brother.

"Harley, take the stele with you," my mom said to me in a whisper as she pushed it into one of my duffle bag's pockets, "just say _Ilahi _when you want to use it."

"What if they don't want me?" I whispered back.

"Oh they'll take you. She just wants to prove a point that you can't just stroll back into the Clave after abandoning it. She'll have a harder time accepting me but I think were okay," I turned to look at my mom in horror. She was going to join the Clave again? After everything she did to avoid it she was being dragged back in because of me? I had already ruined her marriage and now I was going to ruin the rest of her life because she didn't want to leave her deadweight and incapable daughter in a new environment. Even worst she didn't know that her dead weight and incapable daughter may have a homicidal vampire who was out to get her and probably anyone who got in his way. Once the brother and sister returned I made my decision.

"We're willing to accept your daughter but we're less sure of how we will handle you. Since you did break the law by hiding her…" June started out, her brother looked at her annoyed but didn't say anything.

"I am willing to accept any of the consequences caused by my actions," my mother responded holding her chin up.

"No," I said, everyone looked at me in confusion,"I don't want you with me."

"Harley, can you please not act up right now-"

"-no I can't act up later. You don't want me, just say it out loud, will you for once. For once in your stinking life can you not lie?" I said to her vehemently.

"Harley… or course I don't think that!" Tears began to leak down her face and I internally winced at the next words I said.

"Stop lying, you're a coward. You left your family and friends to be with some human boy toy and ended up getting knocked up like a slut. And you did the same with me didn't you? Abandoned me so you didn't have to do your duty because, God forbid, that requires responsibility. I don't want you anywhere near me and I won't join the Clave if you do, I can promise that. I hate you and I've hated you since I've known who you were. And now that I have a way to finally never see my Godforsaken family again, and you better Goddamn believe I'm taking it."

"I know you're angry and I get that but- I'm your mother!" She wailed at me. I stepped away from her and walked towards the door.

"You've never been my mother, I have no mother, just some selfish bitch who won't leave me alone. Tell dad I don't want to see him ever again either, I don't want liars in my life," I slammed the door behind me and I let a couple tears fall as I walked down the street. I watched my front door from a distance when two figures emerged from it. It was June and her brother and they both walked down the street towards me.

"She's not coming," June said stiffly. Both of them were looking at me like I was a particularly violent pit bull and I instantly felt like shit. They led me to a jeep that was parked one block down and they were both seated in the front and I slid into the back seat. For once in my life, I prayed. I prayed that my mother never came looking for me, and forgot about me. I prayed that she found my father and they lived together in my old house in San Diego. I prayed that they adopted a bunch of unselfish babies who loved them and didn't come home late every night and weren't so horrible that they needed to be sent away so that they learned a lesson. Then finally the tears began slipping out of my eyes so fast that all I could do was surrender to them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: World belongs to Cassandra Clare.**

**Chapter V**

We seemed to drive for at least twenty minutes. I stopped crying somewhere in the middle of the journey and was forced to deal with the aftermath of my breakdown by wiping up my snot with my shirt sleeve. It was dark outside as we passed through the populated region in our town into the outskirts. Every once in a while, a house would appear in-between the trees. We drove up one of the hills that surrounded Greaton that oversaw the town. We finally came to a halt in front of a house. Even in the dark I could see some of its details since a porch light was left on. There was a large picket fence surrounding what seemed to the entire property, but it was hard to tell since it was dark and the fence seemed to stretch on forever. Within the fences boundaries, one blue paneled house laid about thirty yards away from a two door garage which we were currently backing into.

I though about how odd it was that a pair of Shadowhunting Nephilim lived in one of the most boring and conventional houses I'd ever seen. We pulled into the garage next to another car that was covered with a grey tarp. The garage itself looked ordinary minus all the junk you normally find. It was empty except for one wall which had a variety of tools hung on it and a plastic trunk beneath it.

I opened the car door and stepped out with both of them, and we walked through a door out to the garden. In the Garden there was a wide expanse of an untrimmed lawn with a dirt path leading to a vegetable garden which was behind the garage. behind the vegetable garden there seemed to be a gazebo and a whole lot of darkness.

"Wow, if I were asked to describe the Shadowhunter's headquarters it would not have turned out like this," I mused out loud.

"That's kind of the point," the brother said to me cheerfuly, "my name is Lysander by the way, me and June are twins."

"Yes, except I'm older. I would have toured you through the house and property but it's getting late and you never know what's lurking outside," June interjected while her eyes shifted through our surroundings. I tensed and heard Lysander laugh.

"Good plan. Those trees seem like they mean business," Lysander joked, June muttered something under her breath while leading us towards the house.

"For now are you fine with sleeping in the living room?" June asked me as she unlocked the front door and let us through. When Lysander flicked on the light I could see that we had walked into a living room.

It was large and well decorated with a variety of rich colors. There was an impressive fire place with two crossed swords hanging above it. It had a traditional feel to it for reasons I couldn't place my finger on. After a second I realized it was becasue that there wasn't a t.v. set or anything else that would hinted at what decade it was. There was an upright piano backed up against the wall with two ink green chairs facing it. Then there was the main seating area which held one long sofa and two love seats. There was a low bookshelf which held some novels and a few knickknacks. The one thing covering the dark wooden floor was a large Persian rug. At the very end of the room there was a large door and a regal staircase which lead up to a dark loft.

"Nice," I said under my breath as I took in the view, "It didn't look so big from the outside."

"It isn't, there are only two bedrooms upstairs and the kitchen is through the door," Lysander responded while smirking.

"You will be staying in this room till we can find you a more suitable residence and inform the Clave of your existence. It's likely that you'll be transferred to an Institute. Lysander, go get some linens." June told her brother, who was already halfway up the stairs.

I was moving? I guess it didn't matter since nothing was left for me in Greaton and it wasn't like I had another home to go to. Instead of voicing my concerns I asked the first question that came to my head.

"What's an Institute?"

"It is like a Shadowhunter embassy, which usually are in big cities like Los Angeles," June responded.

"So… this isn't an Institute?" I asked confused, "You can live in a house if you're a Shadowhunter?"

"No, this is more of an outpost, this area has a lot of Downworlder activity and it is easier for the Clave to keep track of things if some of us stay near high activity areas."

"Really? I haven't seen many Downworlders," I was still unsure of whether to relay my vampire experience to them. The more I thought about it the more Ebony's disappearance, my vampire encounter and the discovery had in common. If, for whatever reason, my vampire encounter had anything to do with Ebony running away I didn't want the Clave to know about it. Since I was moving, I wouldn't be in danger much longer anyways so I just let it go.

"That's because it's recently become a hub for them," Lysander said as he climbed down the stairs with an armful white linens, "A surprisingly large number of them settled here to escaped the big cities up north and south to avoid scrutiny from the Clave."

"Doesn't that seem like a wasted effort if you guys just follow them?"

"The thing is they don't know we're here, so we're trying to keep it on the D.L." Lysander said, while laying out the linens on the largest couch I moved in to help and he passed me the pillow case and a pillow.

"Make sure that you get a goodnights sleep, were going to start your training early tomorrow morning," June said while walking towards the stairs.

"Training?!" I gulped, my makeshift bed had been made and Lysander began to move up the stairs with her.

"Don't worry, we just go for a run and do some basic cardio," he said trying to reassure me. I attempted to smile back. I hadn't taken P.E. for nearly a year and the exercise that I normally did was limited to walking to-and-from Ebony's house.

The next morning June was true to her word and woke me up while it was still dark out.

"Whatsahappening?" I asked groggily as she kept shaking me.

"It is five thirty and you have half an hour to get ready before we need to go," once my eyes were able to focus I saw her wearing full work out gear along with one of those angle bands that counted how many steps you took.

"I didn't bring any work out gear!"

"I left some for you on the coffee table, there is a bathroom through the kitchen door to the left," with that, she opened the front door and took off. I got up and peered through the window and saw her stretching outside. I shook my head and walked towards where she had said the bathroom was. Fifteen minutes later, I was ready and I scraped my hair up into a pony tail and entered into the kitchen and found Lysander sitting in the dining room table, which had a large vase of sunflowers sitting on it.

"Mornin', there are bagels on the counter and butter from both cows and peanuts in the fridge and I'm afraid we're out of jam at the moment. Also, all drinks are in the fridge too." he said while flipping through the sports section of a newspaper.

I went to grab a bagel, there were two left, and I smeared a thick layer of peanut butter and went to pour myself some orange juice.

"The cups are in the far left cabinet," he added helpfully.

"Thanks," I said as I poured myself a glass and put the carton back in the fridge. When I joined him at the table I was aware of an absence.

"Is June still outside stretching?" I asked him.

"She should be onto her circuits by now," he responded putting down his newspaper and taking a bite from his own bagel.

"Shouldn't she eat something before we run? I'm no expert but I usually feel like passing out if I do any physical and mental exercise before breakfast."

"She probably already drank her morning protein shake,"

"Should I be doing that too?" I asked him nervously. I hated protein shakes, I had tried a sip of my dad's once and nearly upchucked on the spot.

"There's probably something I should tell you before you run away screaming, not all Shadowhunters are like June," he said in an undertone, "I love her and everything but she takes Shadowhunting very seriously so don't feel intimidated and compelled to be as… intense."

"Good to know,"

The backdoor attached to the kitchen flung open and June stepped through. She was glistening with sweat and looked at the pair of us, "okay time to get going."

"I still have five minutes to read the comics!" Lysander protested.

"Well, we have a lot to do today so the comics will have to wait. Up!"

We all stood up and June lead us through the back door. She and Lysander began to jog so I imitated them. Once we were through the gate, June turned right, leading us up a very sloped hill.

"Were not running up that are we?" I asked them aghast.

"Well, before we actually train you in fighting it's important that you have good stamina," June responded.

"Contrary to popular belief, running away is an important part of self-defense," Lysander added.

"Exactly, a demon might scamper off once they see you, so you need to catch it before it gets away," June said, "now up the hill!"

"Not exactly the idea behind self defense," Lysander said under his breath.

"We do not need _self_ defense," June lectured, "our duty is to protect others."

After that illuminating discussion, we ran for exactly one hour, twice I felt a heart attack coming on when both times it actually turned out to be a violent bout of gas passing through me. We were back at the house and I had collapsed against one of the dining room chairs.

"What exactly did you mean when you said that you did a lot of jogging?" Lysander asked me.

"That. Wasn't. jogging!" I accused them while trying to catch my breath.

"Luckily for you, that is it for today. Lysander and I have some business to attend to," both of them stood up and went up stairs. I retreated into the bathroom and ran through the shower quickly and changed into clean clothes.

Both June and Lysander were in the living room fully changed and showered when I got walked back in.

"We are going out to scout while you wait here. You are free to eat anything out of the fridge. I would also advise you to read up on Shadowhunters while we are away. There is a book called the Codex and it is upstairs on the bookshelf. See you in a couple of hours."

They were gone and I wandered into the kitchen to get the one bagel that was on the counter. When I walked in I couldn't find it and I opened the fridge to see what else there was. In disgust I realized that everything was healthy, so I settled on a bowl of cereal. The bad thing about being left in the house alone was that I went back to thinking about my mom. I should ask June about where she was going, or if she was staying in Greaton. To distract myself I thought about Ebony, which was actually still quite a stressful topic, and how she had tried to escape from the Shadowhunters for some reason. I then realized that I was in a cornucopia of possible knowledge and I had done no investigating. I needed to find some answers, something that could lead to me Ebony and why she might have left. I also hadn't found any nondescript doors that looked like they could be holding top secret information, so I figured that they kept all their information hidden somewhere else. I began my search with the most innocent room in the house, the kitchen. I opened all the cabinets and drawers one by one.

Nothing was out of the ordinary. The spices were in the spice cabinet, the dishes were stacked, and the pantry was normal (except for the abundance of muscle milk and power bars). I moved into the living room next.

I looked through the shelves and opened the books one by one to see if I could find anything hidden in them. I kept a flask in the middle of a _Gone With the Wind _copy, so I thought it couldn't hurt. I had searched the entire bookcase to no avail. I stomped over to the fireplace angrily, wondering if it was fruitless to even try.

_If I were a Shadowhunter possibly hunting a five foot five girl with bleach blonde hair and fake boobs, where would I keep that information?_

Obviously I was looking in the wrong place and upstairs was my next best option. But it was a lot harder to come up with a reason for me snooping up there in the first place if they came back. My eyes unfocused while peering through the window as I weighed the risks, was it worth being caught or should I pick up my search for another day.

With a start, I realized that there was a small shed out approximately 20 yards away from the house, partially hidden among the trees. _Bingo_, I thought. If I were to hide anything anywhere here, it would have been in there.

I eagerly walked out the front door and hopped off the deck. The shed was actually quite close. I could more easily make up an alibi for this, if they were in the house when I returned I could say I stepped out for some air.

When I reached the door, I saw that they had one of those locks used for school lockers. Luckily, I had learned to pick them in middle school. After a couple minutes of tinkering with the lock, and some nervous glancing to see if any cars were approaching, I managed to unlock it and I slid it into my pocket while closing the door behind me. The shed was quite roomy in comparison to most other garden sheds I had encountered in my life but for some reason it still looked smaller in comparison to its exterior. A slanted skylight illuminated the interiors wooden paneling which had been painted a sickly blue color. I understood why their garage was so clean, they stored their junk in here. Even then they still didn't have that much of it.

There was a desk which was covered in some pretty paper and a variety of pressed flowers. Some of the pressed flowers were also pasted on paper and hung on a wall in neat little frames.

In a box to the left of the desk there were a load of dusty framed photos. I pulled one photo out, and it was a picture of Lysander and June who looked about five years younger, next to them were two much older men and a boy slightly older then the twins. Everyone was smiling in the photo. June's hair was a lot longer then it was now, and her smile exposed a few dimples in her cheeks and chin. I suddenly felt very wrong going through their stuff. I put the picture back in the box and backed away from it. I thought of ending my search right then. There was nothing else was in the room except for a couple more instruments (which were hanging on the walls), a pile of chairs, and some gardening and camping equipment. I almost turned away until I heard a loud noise, as though something had dropped. My heart stopped and I turned to the door, thinking I had been caught. But that couldn't have been right since the noise had come from the opposite facing wall.

There was nothing there accept for a full length mirror which leaned against the wall, which looked to be the newest thing in the room. I walked towards it, maybe the noise had come from outside? But it sounded like an echo, as if it were inclosed. There was another noise of a number of things falling. I sat in confusion for a while longer. Where could that noise have come from? Then it hit me. I walked up to the mirror and ginger put my ear up against it but heard nothing else.

I decided to take a look at their property to see if there was something outside. Just as I was about to open the door a tiny mouse squeezed through the crack bellow and ran away from me in a frenzy. A little disgusted, I moved to the opposite end of the room until I saw it run behind the small refuge created by the mirror and wall.

Compelled by instinct, I walked towards the mirror again and peered behind it. It was completely dark. I moved it over carefully and my jaw fell open.

There was a small doorframe that had a steep staircase going deep into the ground. The limited light from the skylight didn't tell me much else. I peered around the room for something that could help me see and caught sight of a flashlight among the camping equipment. I picked it up and turned it on while pointing in down the staircase.

I did something infinitely stupid, and began to walk down the staircase while using my flashlight to guide the way. The stairs went on for about one flight before abruptly turning to the right and continuing again. I finally found flat surface and looked around.

From the dim lighting, I could see that I was in some sort of library. The walls seemed to be a deep mahogany and the floors were covered in large slabs of stone. There were several large book cases and a comfortable looking red velvet love seat with a round persian rug on the ground bellow it. I saw that, apart from the books on the selves, there were also books littering the floors. If this wasn't a good place to start looking for answers about Ebony, I didn't know what was.

On my way to the selves my flashlights rays revealed another surprise, a small doorway which seemed to lead to a hallway. While books were a good place to start, I was looking for files, or something that would provide some explanation as to why these Shadowhunters were hunting for Ebony. So I gulped down my fear and began walking through the dark hallway, which twisted in a different direction unexpectedly. Fear began to seep through me. What if I was entering a Shadowhunter torture chamber? Or worse, they kept a demon locked up that fed exclusivly on the flesh of purple haired teenage girls. My fear kept expanding and after another turn I saw an opening to a room ahead. I creeped forward quietly and the design of the room came more into focus. There was a orange hue coloring the room (presumably through an open flame or candle light) and through the doorway I saw a table that was piled high with books, strange bottles and a variety of papers. Excitement coursed through me and as I wondered if anything about Ebony was written on those papers. I scurried forward into the room. I peered around quickly and it seemed to be quiet and empty (with no locked up demons in sight). I picked up the first sheet of paper and was met only with a paragraph of fancy writing in another language. The letters were a mixture of crude and picturesque, it looked like a mix between Greek and those weird prints found at the end of a font list on Microsoft Word. I put the paper back down and looked around the table some for something else. I was about to pick up a scroll when a sparkling stone under a couple papers garnered my attention. I reached out for it slowly and as I peeled away the first layer of paper something grasped my hand. When I looked up, a green snarling demon was glaring at me with his equally green hands holding me in place. I screamed louder than a howler money trapped in an oven.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Mortal Instruments world belongs to Cassandra Clare.**

**Chapter VI**

"Oh. My. God. Will you shut up?" The green demon said in a exasperated tone, "I'm not going to kill you or anything. Actually… maybe. What are you doing in my den?"

Once I quieted down, my mouth wasn't able to produce another sound. The green monster, was in fact not a monster as far as I could tell. He had green light olive green skin, forest green hair and eyes the color of pickle juice, but those were his only abnormalities. Of course this was still all shocking so I remained soundless as I stared at him.

"Look, I know you can talk since you were screaming a second ago! Who are you?" He demanded.

"Harley Siv-Sivea," I stammered, "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to burst in I was just looking for-for something…"

"Well I can tell you there is a slim chance you'll find it down here," he said to me, he looked me up and down,"are you a warlock?"

"Wait, what?" I asked him confused.

"You have purple hair," he said pointed at my head.

"Oh, no," I said clearing my throat, "it's called hair dye."

"You dyed your hair? Another color? _Willingly_?!" he looked positively confounded by that revelation and began laughing, "what are you?"

"Apparently a _Shadowhunter_," I responded, saying the last word with a bit of irony.

"Oh, so you're the reason June came bursting in here at 5:40 am to telling me to be MIA for the next couple days. Guess that plans been shot to dust," he said not sounding unhappy about it, "my name is Micah by the way."

"Um, not to be rude-"

"-In my experience, when people say that they are about to say something extremely rude," he said smirking. Ugh, these pompous types were so annoying.

"Okay, to be rude… but why are you green?" I asked him crossing my arms for good measure.

"Well what do you know, I wasn't disappointed! It definitely wasn't a styling choice like your coloring is. It's my warlock mark,"

"What's a warlock mark? Do you get it with a stele too?"

He laughed out loud, "your naiveness is hilarious. No, it's a thing that happens when you're born as a warlock. For my future reference, I really have to ask you how you found this place?"

"It really wasn't that hard, you may want to consider replacing your mirror/doorway with a painting or a bookcase that doubles as a door," I said. As the shock of the green wore off I could concentrate on his features more. He had smooth skin that looked like it had never been through the traumatic experience of chicken pox or acne. He had almond shaped eyes and a doughy nose with a long lips that neither too full nor thin. My mental measuring tape wasn't perfect but I pegged him to be between five foot eight or nine. His clothing was also surprisingly normal. He had on a hoodie with a corduroy jacket over it, a styling choice which made sense since his "den" was nippy.

"I'll pass it along to the dictator,"

"Dictator?" I nervously asked. Did the magical world have some sort of tyranny that I was unaware of?

"June, she runs a tight ship._ It's called a nickname_," he said, mimicking me from earlier, "so how did you end up in her clutches?"

"If you're asking how I ended up here… well I found out I was a Shadowhunter and I decided to join," I said, not sounding convincing even to my own ears.

"So you dropped your old life and decided to risk your new one by hunting for demons and other creatures from the depths of hell?" he asked raising his brows.

"That sums it up pretty well," to distract him, and myself, from this conversation I glanced around the room for a topic, "so this is your den? Why the secrecy and underground tunnels?"

"Well I guess I might as well tell you everything since you've seen it. This property belonged to June and Lysander's family. They're the Ashdowns, every Shadowhunter family has a name like that, anyways, and their family kept this property for generations for some unknown reason. The tunnels existed here for a long time for mining or something, I really didn't get the finer details but I know the town supposed to be full of them and they're hidden away."

"So you just decided to camp out here because there isn't room anywhere else?" I asked looking around the room for once. I had been so mesmerized by his greenness that I had completely ignored the rest of the room which was even more awe-inspiring. It was a large rectangle shaped room which had a large fireplace in one of the shorter walls. There was a nice table with chairs off to the side that was piled with mugs and pizza boxes. Other then that table, there was a larger one right in the middle of the room which I had been sifting through earlier. I couldn't tell if it was even made of wood since it was covered in jars, bottles of strange liquids, odd stones, papers, scrolls and books. On another wall there were two glass display cases which held a number of strange tools that had a steampunk look to them. The room was cut in half with a giant bookcase leaving only a small space to squeeze through to the other side. There was also a ladder which lead who knows where.

"What's the ladder for?" I asked while pointing at it.

"I'll show you," he said while walking towards it. I followed him while thinking of how quickly he had gone from slightly hostile to chipper. He began climbing the rungs of the ladder and he swung a trapdoor on the ceiling open. From my angle all I could see was a roof through it and I began climbing after him.

When we emerged through the trapdoor, my jaw fell open. Not only was it the complete opposite from his basement, it was also a small house. It was the same dimensions as the basement, with a white suburban styled staircase that lead to a second floor. The walls were cover in blue patterned wall paper that was faded away in some areas. The floors were thin wooden panels that seemed to boast a history. A loft bed was pressed against one of the walls a few feet away from the staircase. In the opposite side from the bed, there was an area which we were currently climbing out of. It held an antique dresser, a trunk, a mirror and one long modern couch. Everything was very neat and gave off the impression that my room gave, as if no one had lived there; that was until I made eye contact with one of the windowless walls.

The Shins, Depeche Mode, Metric, the Editors, and Andrew Bird were the were some posters which I recognized, all my favorites, that covered a wall. They were arranged in such a way that was very intentional, as if they were one giant art piece. He was moving a colorful woven rug to cover the trap door we just came out of.

"Sick room," I said in awe, "do you listen to all these?"

I scooted up closer to the wall and saw that a few were even signed. I fought the felonious urge to steal them and clasped my hands together.

"Yeah, I'm not allowed to decorate much since I'm technically not supposed to live here," he said while tucking his hands under his arm pits, "I convinced June that I could arrange them in a way that didn't make it obvious it was someone's room."

"I love almost all these bands," I said, "this is totally weird, I thought that only my best friend listened to all the same stuff I did."

"Yeah, well tell your friend she has good taste," he responded.

_I wish I could_, I thought wistfully, realizing I hadn't talked to her for nearly a week.

"So, isn't it a bit of a give away if you have all your clothes here, along with your laptop and stuff?" I asked him while eyeing the laptop that laid on the metal desk that was underneath his loft bed.

"Oh, we're super crafty about that kind of stuff," he said while grinning, "I don't keep anything except for linens in the closet and all my clothes are either in the trunk, which looks like a decoration anyways and the rest is in the cellar. The laptop has two accounts, one called Ashdowns and another called guests. I use the Ashdowns' so no one can trace me."

"Wow, that is crafty," I said impressed, "has anyone ever found you yet?"

"Other then you, no. I moved here about a year and a half ago anyways," he said.

"Did you ever go to school?" I asked him, "I don't think I saw you there."

He looked a little uncomfortable, "no I haven't been to school or anything yet. I really want to but being a warlock and all…"

He drifted off and I quickly said, "You want to go to school? Trust me, your not missing out on anything. Half of the people in it are suicidal and the other half are homicidal."

"Which half are you in?" He asked, still wearing his grin.

"Depends on the number of hours I've slept and if there's a group project I have to do," I laughed.

"Group project?" he asked.

"Like instead of doing your work, you also have three other people's work to do, because for some reason, no matter how bad your work ethic is, you'll be paired with people who are worse."

"Luckily for you, you won't have to deal with that anymore!" he said sarcastically, "once you join the Clave they'll put you through training to become a lean, mean, arrogant killing machine."

"Do I really have to kill demons?" I asked him nervously. It never really sunk in how this life would effect me. I wasn't sure how long I'd stay here, maybe until I found out about Ebony and the sender of the threatening note, but for another 40+ years?

"Well you do if you don't want to die,"

"Do you kill demons too?" I asked him questioningly.

"No, I'm not a Shadowhunter so I don't get to partake unless for some god-forsaken reason I wanted to pick it up as a hobby. If you couldn't tell from the down stairs, I'm more of a behind the scenes type of guy. In exchange for housing, food and a hearth full of love, I give them my services as a warlock."

"You can do straight up magic?" I asked him in awe, "show me!"

"That'll have to wait for another day. But I can tell you it's pretty epic," he said smugly.

"Do you have an invisibility clo-"

Right then, the front door opened and June entered looking positively stricken.

"What are you doing in here?!"

"I… got lost?"

There was a long and awkward pause. Lysander popped his head through the door behind June.

"Cats out of the bag I guess," he said sounding amused.

"Oh god," June's hand flew to clutch her neck, "Harley, you need to not tell anyone about Micah being here okay?"

"Wait… is he supposed to be a secret-secret?"

"No shit sherlock, why do you think I live part time in an underground tunnel?" Micah said, the previously chipper boy gone and replaced with the condescending prick.

"I don't know? Maybe you're allergic to the sun?" I said sarcastically back, "I won't tell anyone. I don't know who I'd tell anyways…"

"Well you're probably going to be transferred to an institute soon," Lysander said.

"Out of pure curiosity why is it so important that Micah remains a secret?" I asked curious.

"We can not keep Downworlders with us while were on our current assignment," June said, "and he can not live by himself unprotected because… he is still too young."

I looked him up and down, "how old are you 14? 15?"

"_No_, I'm 17," Micah said through his teeth.

"So long story short you need to swear on the Angel you won't tell anyone," Lysander said while clapping his hands together.

"Sure, I swear on the angel,"

"Good, now that you have met everyone in the house we can begin training," June said leading us out the door.

"Are you sure there no werewolves or mermaids you don't keep anywhere else that I should meet?"

"Ha. Ha." Micah responded.

"Nope, but I do have a pair of fifteen pound weights that you haven't seen yet and that need lifting."

"Ugh."


	7. Chapter 7

**The Mortal Instruments world belongs to Cassandra Clare.**

**Chapter VII**

"Thirty three, thirty four, and thirty five! Break," I let my arms drop from the exercise machine, one that was supposed to work on my back and upper arms. My entire body was so uncomfortable that I couldn't tell at this point if that's what it actually did.

"not bad for day five," Lysander said, he had been training with me most days while June had been out running errands. Today, we were at the local gym working out, "That's good enough for today I think,"

"You know, you always say that but we end up doing something else an hour later," I muttered while wiping the sweat off my forehead with one of the gyms complementary towels.

"Hey, that's June not me! I only worked you out for three hours a day!" Lysander said defending his honor.

"Well she makes me run with for another two hours every night on that nightmare of a hill. Maybe if she saw the torture you put me through with these machines she'd go easier on me…"

Lysander laughed, "I wouldn't count on it, according to her standards she'd think I was going too easy on you."

"Ugh, what's she even up to in the mornings?" I said trying to sound nonchalant, so far all my prying for information had been fruitless.

"Looking out for downworlders, I think today she's looking for vamps. A couple attacks happened out in town that looked suspicious; severe blood loss and clouded memories of a strange person," He said while zipping up his jacket.

"Sounds like the same side affects of alcohol consumption, minus the extreme bloodloss… say do you guys ever come across any fairies?" I finally said. I had meant for it to come out nonchalant but when I said it outloud sounded very out of place in our conversation.

"Fairies? None that I know of," Lysander responded while glancing at his watch, "we should head home right now and pick up dinner on the way. Unless you'd want to do a couple more reps?"

I rolled my eyes,"yeah! no."

We began out cool down jog to a pho place and then changed out route home.

* * *

"Ugh, about time, I was about to resort to eating bark," Micah said while walking in through the porch door that was attached to the kitchen.

"There's energy bars in the cabnet you could have eaten," Lysander pointed out while handing him a box of pho.

"Yeah maybe if we ran out of bark and earth worms," he replied. Lysander sighed and sat down at the table next to me with his foam box of pho. He delicately picked up the newspaper and flipped to the sports section.

"So what was life like in the day of the Shadowhunters? Mow down any naughty werewolves?" He asked while slurping up a noodle.

"We worked out some and got food," Lysander said.

"Some? I can't feel my legs!" I exclaimed.

"Remind me again why you're still here?" Micah asked while pointing at me with a chopstick. Irritated I decided to ignore the remark.

"I have two months of my high school career left, might as well take advantage of all of my tax funded education right?" I shrugged nonchalantly, Micah looked at me suspiciously while Lysander still was blocked from view because of the paper. The truth was I wanted to buy as much times as possible. I had pleaded to Lysander and June to let me stay saying that I wanted graduate but I kept my real motive secret, I really wanted to find out what happened to Ebony.

I knew that school was the only reason that would allow me to remain in Greaton. June was still not thrilled about the whole idea of allowing me to stay for educational reasons, no matter how insincere. She at first was against it saying that school was unnecessary for Shadowhunters, since you couldn't kill demons with calculus. Eventually she came around with Lysander's persuasion. He had said that not all Shadowhunter jobs necessarily included fighting and some skills might come in handy from school. I thought his reasoning was bullshit but if it bought me time I wasn't going to complain. No matter how much I hated math class.

"Weird that the Clave isn't dragging her to an institute, don't they need everyone who can get a mark carved into themselves no matter how incompetent?"

"Apparently not," I said smiling through gritted teeth. Finally placing down his paper, Lysander began simultaneously digging into his food and joining our conversation.

"We talked to them and they allowed you to stay with us indefinitely until further notice, so we'll need to find you a place to sleep other than the living room."

"We could clean out the shed?" Micah suggested, "or we can clean out the extra room in the tunnels, I don't think it's actually as haunted as legend says."

"Then again graduating high school is so overrated..." I mumbled under my breath.

"He's kidding, you could just room with Micah,"

"You're kidding?" Micah asked.

"Um, I can stay in the living room it's totally cool. That couch is actually more comfortable then my old bed," I reassured.

"See! she's fine with the couch."

"Micah, you have a loft bed and we have a spare mattress to put under it. One plus one means you guys will be roommates. And see, that was an example of math being used in an everyday Shadowhunter situation."


	8. Chapter 8

**Based on the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices universe created by Cassandra Clare.**

**This will be a chapter of character exposition! Exciting.**

**Chapter VIII**

Lysander had bought a mattress over to Micah's room; I guess my room too now. Lysander and I worked on moving Micah's desk and my mattress under the loft, while Micah was off in the cellar working on magic or something. The room/mini house was detached from the main house and as far as I could tell was made to look like it was on a completely separate property.

"Is he always such a pain in the ass?" I asked Lysander while stuffing the pillowcase.

"He's a little rough around the edges since he's shy," Lysander responded in defense of the green warlock.

"Shy?" I snorted, "out of all the adjectives that could be used to describe him, that's definitely not one of them."

"Think of it from his perspective, he's never around many other people and he's not sure how to act around you."

"You and June aren't around many people either but you aren't assholes for the most part," I retorted.

"For the most part?" Lysander asked pretending to look wounded, "I think it also doesn't help that you are a girl."

"He afraid of cooties or something?"

"No, more like he's afraid of making a fool of himself," Lysander stood up after patting down the sheets, "try not to be too hard on him."

"I'll try but I probably won't succeed," I sighed dramatically.

"Bathrooms upstairs and here's a towel," Lysander said handing it to me, "rest well because you'll be coming on your first mission with us tomorrow."

"Really?" I asked excited.

"Really. Sleep tight kiddo," Lysander walked out the door and began the acre long trek back to the house.

After he was out of sight outside, I went up the thin stairwell that lead to the second floor. It was just as colorful as the downstairs, except the walls were covered in a faded red wall paper as opposed to the blue walls down stairs. The only other notable features of the room was that there were only two doors: one presumably for the bathroom and the other leading out to a balcony. I walked into the bathroom and began to prepare for bed. By the time I got downstairs in my pajamas, Micah was still nowhere to be seen and I settled into my newly minted bed. I lied awake thinking over what Lysander has said about Micah being shy. It didn't hold water though; Micah acted nice when he wanted to but he also could change his mind in an instant and snap at you. Well, I'd have my chance to see if Lysander was right; since Micah and I were sharing a room there would be plenty of time for him to get used to me and _un-shy_ himself.

"Up, up, up," I woke up with snot leaking out of my nose while I laid in fetal position.

"What time is it?" I asked, as my eye sight focused and my ears picked up on the persons voice, I realized it was June, "oh right, the mission."

"Yes the mission, since we couldn't get to your late night practice yesterday I figured you had plenty of sleep last night," June said looking down at me. I finally noticed her outfit. She wasn't wearing the stretchy workout material I was used to seeing her in, but instead she was wearing all neutral colors and a thick military print jacket. Around her neck hung a plastic ski mask that had leaves printed on them.

"Are we hunting caribou?" I asked pointed at her get-up, "also do I need to wear the same thing?"

"trying to sleep," Micah snarled from his bunk bed.

Ignoring Micah, June responded, "you'll be wearing similar attire, as will Lysander. You have twenty minutes to get dressed and eat and we'll all be meeting in the car."

She handed me a pile of light green and brown clothing, as well as a green ski mask and walked out the door.

"I hear ski masks are making a come back this fall," Micah said from his bunk.

"Aren't you asleep?" I asked him sarcastically.

"Yeah, so keep down the racket," he mumbled as turned to bury his face into his pillow, successfully ending our short conversation. I muttered under my breath and went upstairs to change in the bathroom. I cringed as I looked at my reflection in its full glory. The mask was an overkill so I pulled it off and walked downstairs, chucking it on my bed.

"You know you have to wear that right?" Micah piped up again.

"Do you have an aggressive case of sleep talking or are you still awake?"

"The second one, and like I was saying; overlord June will not be pleased if you don't bring the mask."

"I'm not wearing it out," I said crossing my arms. Even though I had convinced myself not to wear it, I still was planted in the room staring at the thing.

"Look hun, if you don't wear the mask now, June will just force you to wear one of the spares she keeps in the trunk of her car. When I say force, I mean force by the way,"

I huffily grabbed the mask and began putting on my running shoes.

Micah said seeming amused, "the sacrifices Shadowhunters must make for us lesser folk in their nobel battle against immorality."

I grabbed a book that was shelved on a table next to me and threw it at Micah.

"Ouch! I could get a concussion!" He complained.

"Try not to slip into a coma while you sleep," I smiled back sweetly while walking out the door. Just as it closed I heard the thud of the book hitting the door.

* * *

"Binoculars?"

"Check."

"Power bars?"

"Check?"

"Phone?"

"Check?"

"Wooden stakes?"

"Umm… check!" Lysander said after rifling through a hiking backpack which was carrying all the supplies we'd need for our mission.

"So this has to do with vampires?" I asked them. Suddenly my memories flashed back to the vampire I'd met in that tunnel and running home to my mother. My mother, another topic which made my insides churn. The two reasons I still remained with the Shadowhunters was to find out why they scared Ebony so much that she ran away, and to find a way to contact her. The other was to find the vampire that left the threatening note in my mom's house and stop them from being threatening. Once both those problems were solved I would promptly drop out of the Shadow World.

It was too bad I was doing a lousy job of resolving both those issues and today's mission was the first time I was coming any closer to my goals. The sooner I fixed my problems, the better. I would be starting school next week, I took a week long break insisted on to "acclimate" to my new life, I thought I could have weaseled most of the information out in this time. I really had to pull my shit together.

"Yes and now Lysander will brief you as I drive," June's eagerness to follow strict guidelines also leaked into road safety; where she rarely talked or turned on the radio, saying that they could _distract_ her. It was a hilariously excessive reaction to driving, especially since the roads were always calm and nearly empty in Greaton.

Lysander turned around in his seat, he was also wearing a similar outfit to June and I. Even through the thick material, I could see an allusion of muscle tucked underneath them, "Okay so today is strictly a scouting mission. It's safe enough to bring a rookie like yourself along so you don't need to worry about being attacked or anything. Besides, either June or I will be around you at all times."

"What exactly are we doing though?" I asked.

"We'll just be surveying the surrounding foliage, we've mapped out most of the areas in Greaton, but what were really searching for is any area which could house Vampires," he said pulling out a map from the inside of his jacket. He unfolded it and pointed to the center, "this is where most of the housing is, June and I have already surveyed all the houses that are mapped and have found no vampire activity. Now that leaves us with two options."

"Let her guess them," June said from the driver's sear.

"Huh?" Lysander questioned.

"Let her guess what options that leaves. Where else could vampires be staying?" She replied curtly, evidently annoyed that she had to elaborate. Her eyes darted to all the mirrors, to make sure her perfect driving hadn't faltered at all.

"Um, I guess they could be living in some abandoned house out in the middle of the forest?" I said looking between the twins.

"Good! Now what's the second option?" Lysander asked holding up two fingers.

"They could be staying out of town?" I asked more then answered.

"We thought about that before, but the cases are all surrounding this particular area," Lysander said pointing at the map, specifically at the area surrounding Greaton, "the most concentrated area of vampire attacks is in town, which leads us to believe that they are based somewhere close by. So the second place we figured they could be hiding is in a cave somewhere or maybe even in an R.V."

"A coven of vampires huh?" I asked in wonderment, "two weeks ago if you were telling me this I would have asked for whatever you were taking."

"Sometimes life will throw you a curveball and you've just got to roll with it, and Harley, you've been doing well," Lysander complemented.

"Thanks," I replied as the car came to a halt. We were parked next to a cabin in the middle of the forest. I looked around confused.

"Time to get out, give me a minute to go handle something," June said as she opened the car door and walked up to the dingy cabin. A balding man opened the door and looked her up and down. I would have guessed that he was checking her out if it weren't for the outlandishness of her outfit. Which was a mix of military gear, dedicated hiker, and ninja. Luckily she had left the mask in the car before knocking on his door. When she walked back she had three guns in her hands.

"Woah, woah, woah! I thought this was low danger mission," I asked with my palms sweating.

"These are paint ball guns, if you had been paying attention on our drive you would have seen the sign that stated this cabin to be a place to rent equipment and use the facilities," she said while handing me a paint ball gun, "first lesson of Shadowhunting is always pay attention to your surroundings at all times."

"I thought the first lesson was to kill demons?"

"That's second, first you have to find them," she said while walking out of the car. Lysander also grabbed a gun and slung it over his shoulder with the strap.

"I like this practical field knowledge over reading that abominable book," I said referring to the Codex. I'd only been force to read it twice so far, but it had been enough to bore me to tears. A book was boring no matter how many demons and runes it talked about in it.

"Well, you still have to memorize that _abominable_ book, and this will give you a chance to see that knowledge in action," June said.

"Okay I know this probably feels like twenty questions but sometimes you_ folks_ can be confusing: why are we playing paint ball?" I asked.

"It's the perfect cover up. The area we need to survey is near here and no one will question us if we just say we strayed too far while playing," June replied, "you two go north and I'll be going north west, we can meet back in three hours. Keep your phones on vibrate."

"Hey June? Do you wanna switch with Harley at any point?" Lysander asked hopefully. I tried not to take it personally but his question sent a ripple of insecurity through me.

"No I'm fine, you just tell her everything she should be doing and teach her the basics of tracking," June replied before running into the woods at top speed.

Lysander sighed and locked the car as we set off on our direction, "I know they look dorky but put on the mask, It'll help keep your identity secret even if someone's watching."

"You're sounding a bit June-like," I said jokingly, "I'll try not to slow us down too much."

"Oh you won't," he said while we walked. I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. I wondered if I should have just stayed home and read the Codex today. Maybe I was annoying Lysander by being around him all the time.

"I could still stay in the car if you want," I said quietly. I could still drive home and then pick them up later once they were done.

"Do you not want to be here?" Lysander asked me as we moved through the forest.

I tried to gulp down the sudden flash of emotion that pulsed through me when I replied, "no, I just understand why I wouldn't be very helpful, being half-baked Shadowhunter and all…"

I continued to walk until I felt his grip on my arm, Lysander spun me around so I was facing him, "Don't think you're ever annoying us okay? I didn't want to trade places with June because I wanted to get away from you. I just wanted to make sure she wasn't on her own,"

I gulped as he stared intensely into my eyes as if willing me to understand. Reluctantly I stared back and realized that his hazel eyes were actually more green in the sun, "I get it."

"No you don't," Lysander said finally letting go of my arm and to rub his eyes warily, "it's just that June's, she- she doesn't like anyone else doing the dangerous stuff."

Lysander's voice was light but I could detect an undercurrent of something beneath it. I wasn't used to this side of Lysander who took things seriously and I wasn't sure how to react to it. I stuck to asking the easiest question that popped into my head, "why doesn't she like you doing dangerous stuff?"

"Well, she doesn't want anyone doing anything dangerous, even you and Micah,"

"Micah?" I asked him thinking of what Micah could possibly be doing right now that was dangerous other than nursing a small bump on his head from the book I'd thrown.

"She doesn't really let him out, at all actually. She's afraid of him getting hurt," Lysander said walking over to lean against a tree, "when we were kids she was like this but to a lesser extent. We were all Shadowhunters, my family."

"Is that normal?"

"Yes, but also no. Usually younger Nephilim would fight against demons and older members of the family would become a part of the council or retire in Idris," I remembered from the little that I read in the Codex that Idris was the Shadowhunter's main city: the city of glass, "our entire family, young and old, were combative Shadowhunters. Our last name is Youngblood, which actually is a name that came around because of the superstition involving our family."

I sensed that I was broaching a delicate topic, "superstition?"

Lysander sighed, "we're known for dying young in combat. Our entire family esteems itself on the ability to fight demons and for generations we've trained for that specific purpose with out taking any other positions in the Clave."

I furrowed my brows dissecting what he said, "so she's afraid of you dying young? Why is she also afraid of me and Micah getting hurt?"

"Well my older brother died a couple years ago, and my parents many years before that," Lysander said softly, "it's not too uncommon to loose family in this business."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just stated the obvious: "so that's why June's afraid of anything happening to anyone else."

"Yeah, that's the reason," he confirmed with a tight smile, "speaking of June, we should get going unless we want to eat a protein shake for dinner instead of takeout."

I nodded and we began lightly treading through the forest stopping to take note of certain land marks. I thought of how it made sense that June didn't allow any space for error. In her life she'd seen that even the smallest mistakes meant death.

**Thanks for reading! I'd be happy for reviews and any constructive criticism you've got!**


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